Fig. 3: CD82 overexpression protected against axonal transport deficits after acute ocular hypertension.

a Schematic drawing of AAV injection and CTB tracing from retina to SC. The dashed box indicating the observation site of ONH and SC. b Timeline of the major procedures for studying optic nerve transport. c Representative images showing anterogradely transported CTB-488 in ONH and proximal ON in groups of Sham, 8 h, 2d and 7d post-AOHT with intravitreal injection of AAV-vehicle or AA-Cd82 obtained at low exposure time of fluorescence microscopy. The white dashed lines indicating the distance of CTB labeling. Scale bar, 50 μm. d Statistical analysis of the CTB labeling distance indicated in (c). The data were expressed as mean ± S.E.M., n = 5 eyes, Student’s t-test for Cd82 v.s. vehicle at each time point, *p < 0.05. e Representative images showing CTB-488 transported to SC from three layers as Rostral, Middle, and Caudal in groups of Sham and 2d post-AOHT with intravitreal injection of AAV-vehicle or AA-Cd82 obtained at high exposure time of fluorescence microscopy. The white arrow indicating defects of CTB distribution, n = 5 mice. Scale bar, 200 μm. f Immunostaining of Synaptophysin within ONH in the same groups as in (c). The yellow dashed box indicating accumulation of synaptophysin protein in ONH, n = 5 eyes. Scale bar, 50 μm. g Western blot showing protein levels of Synaptophysin in ONH tissues in groups of Sham, 8 h, 2d, and 7d post-AOHT. h Statistical analysis of the data shown in (g), n = 4 eyes, one-way ANOVA, ***P < 0.001. i Western blot showing protein levels of Synaptophysin in ONH tissues in groups of 2d-post AOHT with injection of AAV-vehicle or AA-Cd82. j Statistical analysis of the data shown in (i). The data were expressed as mean ± S.E.M., n = 4 eyes, one-way ANOVA, ***P < 0.001.